Residents question why Loudoun is pushing for another disc golf course

This is the second article in a three-part series about Westpark development projects. The first article ran on Nov. 18, 2025 and can be read here: https://patch.com/virginia/lee...

In May 2021, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to buy 134.25 acres of the former Westpark golf course and turn it into a passive park. The County paid $3.8 million for the land. It was put into conservation easement.

A conservation easement is a legal agreement that allows a landowner to retain ownership, use, and enjoyment of the property while conveying certain rights to a qualified land trust to protect any farms, forested areas, historic sites, or natural resources of the land. Placing land into a conservation easement often provides substantial tax benefits.

Henry Stribling is the land trust contact listed on the Westpark easement. He is the executive director of Old Dominion Land Conservancy, a Purcellville-based non-profit that works with landowners to place their land into easement.

ODLC describes their work as assisting applicants with completing required paperwork, inspecting the areas to be donated, recording the property with photos, and inspecting the property at least annually to make sure the land is being maintained according to the terms of the conservation easement.

The nonprofit has worked to a large extent with JK Landholdings owner Chuck Kuhn on easement projects in Loudoun County, most recently completing an easement of 431 acres of land on Pots House Road in July 2025.

A copy of the 33-page Westpark conservation easement can be seen here.

Noel and Jessica Green, the single family homeowners who were mentioned in part one of this series, contacted Stribling in June 2025 to ask about the amount of impervious surface area shown in Westpark's master plan. Impervious surface area refers to materials such as asphalt, concrete and rooftops, which prevent rainwater from soaking into the ground leading to increased runoff and potential flooding.

The proposed master plan for the passive park shows 283,650 square feet of impervious surface areas, not including structures. But the conservation easement states impervious surface areas cannot exceed 116,000 square feet.

Loudoun County Public Information Officer Glen Barbour explained what the numbers mean:

"Those two numbers are not referencing the same thing. The 283,650 number was the original maximum allowable at the outset of the project for all categories. The 116,000 number is for only those items listed in that section of the deed, e.g., structures. The current design proposes less than 50,000 sq. feet for buildings and parking, far below the 116,000 sq. foot cap. Admittedly, these documents are difficult to interpret. The key take away is nothing in the current design that would exceed any allowable thresholds for impervious surfaces."

According to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the following restrictions apply to conservation easements:

• Listing of the conservation values of the property that will be protected in perpetuity.
• Limitations on the number of parcel divisions allowable.
• Restrictions on the number and size of buildings and structures, and limitations on the locations of new buildings and structures.
• Limiting impervious surfaces to a small percentage (commonly 1 percent) of the area of the property.
• Restricting the location, number, or size of new roads.
• Restricting utility placement.
• Prohibiting surface and subsurface mining.
• Requiring vegetated riparian buffers along perennial water bodies, shorelines and wetlands (often these will be at least 35-feet wide). Some easements may require wider buffers and buffers on intermittent water bodies to better protect water resources. Within buffers, many easements:
  • Prohibit new development and the expansion of existing development.
  • Prohibit soil-disturbing activities and dumping.
  • Require a buffer of vegetative cover that includes, but is not limited to, forest, shrubs, or warm-season grasses. There may be a provision that states that lawns or grazed pastures do not constitute vegetative cover, but that the buffer area may be mowed or hayed up to three times in one calendar year.
  • Exclude livestock.

Restrictions to protect outdoor recreational resources include:

• Listing what recreational uses are allowed on the property.
• Clarifying the level of public access required by the easement.
• Placing restrictions to protect the identified recreational resources. This may include:
  • Requiring maintenance of certain recreational features, such as trails.
  • Limiting development in certain areas, in order to maintain opportunities for nature-based recreation.
  • Prohibiting commercial recreation.
  • Requiring reasonable public access.

Safety is a paramount concern

Alicia Benedict, a homeowner whose backyard sits next to the former golf course, said one night she was eating dinner with her family when a golf ball flew through her window almost hitting her husband and ricocheting off her child's high chair. The window blinds were the only thing that helped stop the ball.

It caused this damage below:

That was the day their concern over safety heightened immensely, as they have young children who swim in their pool and play in the backyard. Unable to find the person responsible, the Benedicts had to pay for the damage themselves.

Benedict's neighbor, Rick Jackson, said, "I've collected 1,000 balls from my yard in the time I have lived here." He said he has caught golfers climbing over his fence to retrieve their balls, which has led to unpleasant confrontations with strangers. He anticipates the same will happen with frisbee disc players.

Jackson said when he walks his dog on the course, he notices discarded beer bottles and other signs of poor treatment of the park. He said he believes the proposed parking lots and pavilions will draw more activity like this into his neighborhood.

Kelly Krammes, who lives on Clagett Street, bought her home in 2023. She lives near the former third hole of the golf course and has numerous patches on the back of her home from where golf balls have hit her house. The willow trees in her back yard, located about 30 feet from her home, also have golf balls stuck in them:

Here is what Mrs. Krammer had to say about plans for the disc golf course:

Six disc golf courses are available in Loudoun County, with a seventh planned

In Loudoun County, there are three free public disc golf courses - one at Franklin Park in Purcellville, one at Salamander Resort in Middleburg, and one at the Hal & Bernie Hanson park in Aldie. A fourth is scheduled to be built at Veterans Park at Balls Bluff in Leesburg. That park project is currently under construction.

Other properties used for disc golf in Loudoun have included:

• Morven Park
• Lefty's Farm Course at Flying Ace Farm Brewery & Distillery in Lovettsville
• Clark's Run Course in Leesburg

There are also numerous disc golf courses in the region, including Harpers Ferry, several in Maryland and several throughout Virginia.

None of the public or private disc golf courses in Loudoun are surrounded by residential communities. Only Westpark is. It would affect the Country Club Green Condominium community, Tuscarora Creek Apartments, and portions of the Leesburg Country Club, Greenway Farms and Woodlea Manor single family home neighborhoods.

Because of this, many owners have expressed disc golf is an incompatible use for Westpark.

"I SO dislike that there's a plan to put parking lots in. That will bring in non-residents and with that will come problems. There are several things about all of it that concern me, but the one I haven't seen addressed is the safety of discs flying around on paths that people walk daily.
Leesburg Country Club, as well as Woodlea Manor residents, have dozens of families that walk the paths on holes 2-5 daily. They are walking their dogs, many have little kids, some have strollers AND their dogs, some have kids on bikes and tricycles, the list goes on. That path is very busy.
How does one know while walking the paths if a disc is coming their way? Who has the right-of-way? A dog, a kid, or a stroller with a baby in it could be hit by a disc. I assume there will be rules posted, but, to my knowledge, there’s no management," said Cindi Else, who lives in the Leesburg Country Club neighborhood.

Justification statement of why a disc golf course needed

The Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy has twice written to Loudoun County with questions about the park plans. In its first letter in June 2023, the Conservancy asked Loudoun County to provide a justification statement as to why a disc golf course was needed.

See that letter here.

The Conservancy then followed up in June 2025 and asked the County to consider the following top priorities moving forward:

1. The adverse impacts of a lengthy and wide natural surface trail alongside the creek (which would increase dislodging sediment into the stream, encourage human and pet access into the stream, and have higher potential for litter)
2. The need for larger, taller trees in riparian areas (to provide shade to regulate water temperature, provide an adequate food source for benthic macroinvertebrates, and minimize erosion)

See that letter here.

Disc golfers look for more options

Loudoun County has an active disc golf club called LoCo Disc Golf Club.

"We are always talking with the County about the need to provide more recreational opportunities to disc golfers in our area, so the potential for a course at Westpark arose out of those discussions. I would characterize it as a mutual identification of an opportunity to expand disc golf offerings in the County," said "Meate Tanque" who identifies himself as one of the group's Facebook administrators since 2014. His associated profile says: "My real name is Charles Viandes".

"Both the County and club think it [the amount of current disc golf courses] is insufficient to meet demand. Accordingly, we've jointly been examining locations to add courses to meet that user need. Westpark meets a geographic need, adding a central course to western Loudoun (at Franklin park) and eastern Loudoun (at Hanson park)."

"I don't know how that's possible when there are numerous disc golf courses in Northern Virginia and the surrounding area. It sounds to me like they just want another public disc course so they don't have to pay to play at the private ones," a homeowner said.

John Biscoe was called in early on the Westpark project to design the disc golf course. There wasn't much to design though since it was a previous golf course and the template for disc golf was already established.

Biscoe is from Spotsylvania, Va. "He's highly-regarded and has plotted out some of the best tracks in the Commonwealth, including working with the club on the Clark's Run course in Lucketts," Viandes said.

Biscoe said he is a consultant who was compensated by J2 Engineering for designing Westpark's disc golf course. He said he has designed roughly 40 disc golf courses across the state and a couple in West Virginia.

On his public resume, Biscoe said his design philosophy is "safety first" and "minimize environmental footprint." This has left homeowners scratching their heads because as designed in close proximity to houses, the Westpark disc golf course is neither safe nor environmentally sensitive to a passive park concept.

Emergency room visits

Disc golf frisbees are just as lethal as golf balls are:

"Dashcam Dave" required several stitches.

This gentleman got hit directly in the face:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/...

And here's five more minutes of mishaps and injuries:

Mrs. Krammes said when she watched the above videos, the following thoughts came to her mind:

1) Every victim was an adult. Imagine if it was a child.

2) These all seemed to be filmed because it was a tournament or something with people who are active in the sport and know what they are doing. Can you imagine how many wayward throws there will be from amateur players coming out to this "passive" park?

3) I did notice some (remarkably few) of the courses being adjacent to single family homes or apartment/condos and seemed to be further from the houses and with fewer houses affected than what is planned for our neighborhood.

Golf discs are smaller, heavier, and designed for accuracy and distance, while regular frisbees are larger, lighter, and made for casual play and catching. The design differences, such as sharper edges on golf discs, enhance their performance but simultaneously add increased risk of injury.

The average speed of a thrown golf disc is around 50-70 miles per hour, with professional throws reaching speeds up to 89.5 miles per hour. Factors like technique and disc type can affect the speed as well.

Apparently, risk isn't only to people who are nearby. A number of disc golf player themselves have actually died.

In August 2025, a man drowned in a pond near the campus of Oklahoma Christian University trying to retrieve a wayward disc. See story here.

In 2022, a man died looking for frisbees in a Florida lake during alligator mating season. See story here.

In June 2020, a man was bitten in the face while attempting to retrieve a disc from a lake in Florida. See story here.

In June 2013, a Missouri man was electrocuted by power lines and died after playing disc golf in the dark. See story here.

Who let the dogs out?

Many homeowners have expressed the desire to see a large off-leash, fenced-in dog park at Westpark. In fact, one was planned originally for the park. However, in the most recent design blueprints, the dog park was removed.

Barbour said, "It is my understanding that the dog park was removed from the original proposal because that use is not allowed by-right under the Town’s Zoning Ordinance. All other proposed uses in the design are allowable by-right. So, the County did not choose to pursue a legislative application to seek approval for that particular use."

The number of homeowners and renters who own dogs near Westpark is tremendous. Dogs can be seen being walked daily in the park, which is open to the public. Other parks, such as the Hal and Bernie Hanson park in Aldie, have large, beautiful dog parks and are consistently filled with dogs playing and enjoying nature without having to be leashed.

In contrast to a disc golf course, the maintenance of a dog park is low and the usage would be high, homeowners say. It minimally impacts the park and is self-contained.

Other amenities the public has said it would like to see rather than a disc golf course are bird watching stations, educational areas and signage relating to nature, particularly the Tuscarora Creek stream that winds through the park as a babbling brook.

There is also a large pond currently in the park where a fishing pier would be ideal for people who enjoy fishing.

How to submit feedback

Construction on the passive park is set to begin in Summer 2026. The cost of the project is projected to be $18.9 million. Here is the anticipated timeline of the project:

• Winter 2023 - Fall 2026: Project Design
• Winter 2026 - Spring 2026: Procurement of Construction Contractor
• Summer 2026: Award Contract – Construction
• Summer 2026: Notice to Proceed – Construction
• Summer 2026 - Fall 2027: Construction
• Fall 2027: Substantial Completion

The park’s master plan exhibit can be viewed here.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on this project in January 2026, but the particular date in January has not yet been set. The entire Board of Supervisors can be reached simultaneously by emailing: BOS@loudoun.gov

Logan Baird, a civil engineer, is the Westpark Improvement Project Manager with the County’s Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure. He can be reached at: Logan.Baird@loudoun.gov

Baird reports to Sherene Dorazio, the Director of the Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure, who began her role with the County in July 2025. Her email address is: Sherene.Dorazio@loudoun.gov

A designated email for this project is: dtci@loudoun.gov

The third and final part in this series will be an open letter to the Board of Supervisors written by the community members affected by the passive park. That article should publish within the next week.